This invention relates to liquid products for external application to the body and more particularly to a solution or medicinal mixture for applying to circumscribed portions of the skin such as the face for shaving purposes.
Shaving soaps are usually made of a cocoanut oil as a base with some stearic acid used to give it hardness. Both soda and potash lyes are used and gum is added to prevent it from quickly drying. Glycerine is a common ingredient of this type of soap.
Transparent soaps are prepared by drying ordinary soap, dissolving it in alcohol, allowing the solution to remain at rest so long as any impurities are precipitated, decanting off the alcoholic liquid and evaporating it until it is of such a consistency as to solidify when cooled in metallic molds. Glycerine is often incoporated with transparent soaps for emollient effects, while for disinfecting purposes carbolic acid, coal tar, eucalyptus oil and other substances are added.
When such shaving soaps are used in either the solid or liquid form and removed after a shaving procedure an after shaving lotion is usually used for a cooling, stimulating, astringent, soothing or sedative effect. A good stimulating lotion is procured from a mixture of water with a third to one half of its bulk being alcohol. Astringent lotions are formed by adding from one to ten grams of sulphate of zinc or white vitriol to an ounce of very cold water having other astringents in solution. So called antiseptic lotions contain bichloride of mercury, carbolic acid or boracic acid.
A need exists for a liquid shaving product having all of the benefits of a shaving soap and the benefits of an after shaving lotion, cologne or skin toner in a single product requiring no further skin treating after a shaving activity.
The present invention relates to an alcohol based liquid shaving product which can be relatively transparent and imparts a feeling of lubricity to the product with the alcohol being a carrier or solvent for other ingredients in the composition.